Credit Suisse analyst Doug Mitchelson initiated 21st Century Fox with an Overweight and $57 price target saying bidding cold go higher for Fox, and the New Fox is currently undervalued given its free cash flow and attractive assets.

07/13/18

LOOP

07/13/18NO CHANGETarget $125LOOPBuy

Disney price target lowered to $125 from $130 at Loop Capital

Loop Capital analyst Alan Gould lowered his price target on Disney (DIS) to $125, saying the bidding process for 21st Century Fox (FOXA) and Sky (SKYAY) could see another increase by the company to low $40s per share and up to GBP 15 per share respectively. Gould believes that Disney will end up acquiring both assets, with associated costs lowering its EPS by 18c per share. Longer term, the analyst keeps his Buy rating on Disney, noting that despite its premium valuation, it has "carried an even higher multiple on a similar mid-teens EPS growth rate".

07/13/18

BERN

07/13/18NO CHANGEBERN

Bernstein 'not so sure' Comcast will give up on Fox assets

Bernstein analyst Todd Juenger said that it appears that the market is starting to believe Comcast (CMCSA) will give up on its bid to buy assets from 21st Century Fox (FOXA) and focus on Sky (SKYAY), but he said he is "not so sure" that is the case after only one counter from Disney (DIS). He does not believe Comcast would put forth a $35 bid unless it was prepared to bid up to near $45 per share, Juenger tells investors. If Comcast ups its bid, it either wins Fox at a high price or Disney is forced to pay more, which both seem better than giving up to him, Juenger stated. In any case, the "winner" will be left with increased leverage on a cyclical business late in the cycle at a time when it needs to invest significantly to build its direct-to-consumer business, added Juenger.

07/13/18

07/13/18NO CHANGE

Fly Intel: Today's top analyst calls on Wall Street

Check out today's top analyst calls from around Wall Street, compiled by The Fly. VF CORP DOUBLE UPGRADE: BofA Merrill Lynch analyst Robert Ohmes upgraded VF Corp (VFC) to Buy from Underperform and raised his price objective to $96 from $65 ahead of the company's earnings report on July 20, telling investors in a research note that he believes Vans will be a "go-to-brand" for the back-to-school selling season. He said his channel checks indicate accelerating momentum in Vans, especially classic styles, and that the $50-$60 price point is attractive given consumers' shift to value. RAYMOND JAMES DOWNGRADES AT&T: Raymond James downgraded AT&T (T) to Market Perform from Outperform. Analyst Frank Louthan said he views the Department of Justice appeal of the Time Warner case as a negative and said it is a "frustrating delay." Louthan expects the suit to be a "significant overhang" for an extended period of time, which will limit share appreciation, but remains confident AT&T will prevail. AT&T is lower by 2% in late morning trading. STIFEL STARTS GALMED WITH A BUY: Stifel analyst Adam Walsh initiated Galmed (GLMD) with a Buy rating and $35 price target, calling it a "legitimate late-stage NASH play" after Aramchol recently proved itself in a Phase 2 trial as a clearly active and "very safe" compound for treating NASH. Galmed is trading higher by over 17% in late morning trading. MORGAN STANLEY HIKES WWE TARGET TO $100: Morgan Stanley analyst Benjamin Swinburne said that WWE (WWE), by securing rights fees in its new five-year agreements with NBC (CMCSA, CMCSK) and Fox (FOX, FOXA) that are 3.6 times higher than its prior five-year broadcast agreement with NBC, has gained a "massive increase" in earnings power and "extremely high" visibility into the associated revenue. Given the recently announced deals, he raised his price target on WWE shares to $100 from $58 and kept an Overweight rating on the stock. WILLIAM BLAIR CALLS KEMPER PULLBACK 'BUYING OPPORTUNITY': William Blair analyst Adam Klauber said he views shares of Kemper (KMPR) as "even more attractive" after the recent pullback, which he attributes to selling pressures from Infinity Property shareholders receiving Kemper stock. Klauber said Kemper "continues to be our top conviction idea," and kept an Outpeform rating on the name. Kemper is higher by 4.8% in late morning trading.

DISDisney

$110.10

1.84 (1.70%)

07/11/18

07/11/18NO CHANGE

Fly Intel: Today's top analyst calls on Wall Street

Check out today's top analyst calls from around Wall Street, compiled by The Fly. MCDONALD'S CUT TO NEUTRAL: Cleveland Research analyst Steven Gojak downgraded McDonald's (MCD) to Neutral from Buy after his industry checks led him to believe that its comparable sale results in the second half will trend more in-line with consensus expectations. Gojak, who is still modeling Q2 U.S. comp sales growth of 3.7% for McDonald's, which is above the 3.1% consensus growth view, lowered his 2018 U.S. comp estimate to 3.2% from 3.4%, compared to the consensus of 3.1% growth. McDonald's is down 1% in midday trading. NOMURA INITIATES INTERNET SECTOR: Nomura Instinet initiated coverage on the Americas Internet sector. Nomura Instinet initiated Alphabet Class A (GOOGL), Facebook (FB), and Spotify (SPOT) with Buy ratings, and added that Alphabet and Facebook were the best positioned in this newly regulated industry. It initiated Twitter (TWTR) with a Reduce rating, saying that while it is a "stable long-term asset that has something for everyone," the firm believes the market is pricing in "a significant advertising reacceleration that implies a shift in ad spend," while the firm expects "stability instead of a reacceleration of growth." CREDIT SUISSE POSITIVE ON VERIZON, NEGATIVE ON AT&T: Credit Suisse analyst Douglas Mitchelson initiated Verizon (VZ) with an Outperform rating and a price target of $58. The analyst believes Verizon should benefit from its "major $10B cost savings plan, stable capex spending, record low churn, and the benefit of tax reform." Mitchelson also initiated AT&T (T) with an Underperform rating and a price target of $29. Mitchelson said that AT&T will require greater scale and a shift to global direct-to-consumer distribution, stating that the elevated execution risk under its ownership structure and its wireless business look mature with little chance for stabilization in spite of the coming 5G technology. DISNEY VALUATION NOT COMPELLING: Credit Suisse analyst Douglas Mitchelson initiated Disney (DIS) with a Neutral rating and a price target of $114. The analyst noted that the company is "the best positioned traditional media company", but believes the Street has not sufficiently discounted the costs associated with Disney's push into direct-to-consumer streaming services, adding that FY19 will be extra challenging because of high film comps and major theme park project launches.

Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Nowak said Activision Blizzard's (ATVI) exclusive live television coverage deal with Disney (DIS) for the Overwatch League not only has the potential to drive higher licensing revenue for the company but its also an "important step" in continuing to establish esports as more of a mainstream event and towards his $100 per share "bull case" for Activision shares. Nowak maintains an Overweight rating and $80 price target on Activision Blizzard shares.

FOX21st Century Fox

$46.97

-0.05 (-0.11%)

06/26/18

BUCK

06/26/18INITIATIONBUCKNeutral

Sky initiated with a Neutral at Buckingham

Earlier today, Buckingham analyst Michael Harrigan initiated Sky (SKYAY) with a Neutral rating and GBP14.50 price target with 3% upside, above Comcast's (CMCSA) GBP12.50 cash bid and a premium to 21st Century Fox's (FOXA) GBP10.75 bid to buy the 61% of Sky it does not already own. The analyst tells investors in a research note that a higher bid assessment could be triggered by the U.K. Takeover Panel exercising its authority to mandate a higher takeout bid if the price paid by Comcast or Disney (DIS) to buy the 21st Century Fox assets that are in play implies a higher bid.

06/27/18

GUGG

06/27/18NO CHANGETarget $82GUGGBuy

WWE price target raised to $82 from $68 at Guggenheim

After WWE announced new five year deals for RAW and SmackDown yesterday evening, Guggenheim analyst Curry Baker raised his price target on the stock to $82 from $68, noting that the combined average annual value of the deals with Comcast's (CMCSA) USA Network and Fox Sports (FOXA) of $524M was ahead of his $500M a year forecast. Beyond the renewals, Baker sees a number of opportunities remaining for WWE, including renewals in the UK and India, incremental content deals, and WWE Network tiering. He keeps a Buy rating on WWE shares.